Liberty Tax Service to expand headquarters in Virginia Beach

Virginia Beach-based Liberty Tax Service plans to expand its headquarters in the Corporate Landing Business Park, a move that will create 47 full-time jobs.

“The expansion will help us realign our call center operation into a web-based application,” John Hewitt, the founder and CEO of the tax service, said in a statement. “We are proud to call Virginia Beach home, and we are fortunate to find the perfect solution to expand in our current location.”

Liberty’s corporate campus includes three buildings: a 31,000-square-foot one-story structure, a 30,000-square-foot two-story building and a 9,814-square foot one-story building.

The company plans to expand the smallest building by 25,000 square feet. Liberty will purchase an adjacent lot from the Virginia Beach Development Authority for $674,500 to accommodate the building expansion and additional parking.

The Virginia Beach Development Authority has approved an Economic Development Investment Program grant of $140,000, based on the number of jobs created with the expansion. Liberty will create 47 full-time jobs within 30 months, with average annual salaries of $69,000. The grant will be used for workforce development and employee training, site work and utility upgrades.

“This expansion retains 393 full-time jobs in the city, plus an additional 400 seasonal jobs,” Warren D. Harris, director of Virginia Beach Economic Development, said in a statement. “These are high-salaried positions that include the CEO, legal advisers, technical support, managers, software designers and administrative staff. We know Liberty Tax Service looked at sites outside of Virginia Beach, and we are extremely pleased they have decided to remain here. We anticipate the company will continue to be one of our leading corporate examples of success.”

Liberty is the third-largest tax preparer in the country.

City officials note that the Liberty expansion is the third major announcement for the 325-acre Corporate Landing Business Park in the past year. In 2013, Green Flash Brewery selected the park as the site for its $20 million East Coast brewing operation, which is scheduled to open in 2015. KBH Business Management Systems, the software division of JES, announced plans to create 33 jobs at the company’s new headquarters location at 1741 Corporate Landing Parkway.